Introducing the Class of 2026: High achievers ready to make an impact

The newest students in the Two-Year MBA Program continue Kellogg’s high standards for academic excellence as the program reaches an all-time high of 50% women students for the first time.
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Two women, both Kellogg MBA students, laugh and smile as they participate in a conversation and show each other notecards. Both are wearing purple lanyards.

By Emily Haydon, Assistant Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid 

As we welcome the next generation of Kellogg Leaders this fall at the Global Hub in Evanston, I’m excited to tell you about our incoming Two-Year MBA students. Even though the members of the Class of 2026 are just beginning their MBA journeys, their remarkable accomplishments to date have already added so much to our global Kellogg community. 

The 524 students in this incoming class continue the high standards of excellence Kellogg is known for. And, we’re pleased to share that the number of applications received for the Two-Year MBA class increased by 23% compared with last year. 

A record high 50% of these students are women, making this class the first in the Two-Year MBA program’s history to reach that milestone. As they join the community of women at Kellogg, they will find advocates, programming, resources and a supportive network, all dedicated to helping them grow into impactful leaders, both as students and long after graduation.  

The Class of 2026 also upholds the high academic standards of previous classes, achieving an average GMAT score of 733 and a median score of 740. The average GPA was 3.72 while the median was 3.76. Average and median GRE scores were 162 (verbal) and 163 (quantitative).  

We are proud of each one of our new incoming students, who were selected through a holistic admissions process that evaluates multiple factors. These students bring with them a wide variety of experiences and perspectives — viewpoints that will undoubtedly enrich every facet of life at Kellogg, from classroom discussions to extracurricular experiences to the lifelong friendships they will form.  

Here are just a few more facts about our incoming class: 

  • 11% identify as LGBTQ+  
  • 40% are international students 
  • 10% are among the first generation in their families to pursue an advanced degree 
  • 6% are veterans 

The wide variety of their professional backgrounds also contributes much to our student community. Their previous employers include Google, Pfizer, Amazon, Goldman Sachs, Netflix, Blackstone and Microsoft. Nearly one-third of the Class of 2026 previously worked in consulting, while 18% come from the tech industry and another 18% worked in financial services. These same industries were also top career outcome destinations for the Kellogg Class of 2023, the most recent year for which employment data is available. Those graduates’ post-MBA careers — achieving an all-time high median total compensation of $207,000 — show that Kellogg graduates continue to be in high demand and valued across industries.  

Of the incoming Class of 2026, 39% hold an undergraduate major in a STEM field. At Kellogg, they’ll learn from faculty who lead the way in bridging the gap between business and science — recent initiatives include the Ryan Institute on Complexity and an innovation-focused research program funded by a $20 million grant from the National Science Foundation. Another 49% of the class has an undergraduate degree in economics or business, while 24% have a degree in the humanities. 

But these statistics alone don’t capture the whole picture of the incredible people who will embark on this MBA journey together. Just as important are the many ways they have already lived out the values of leadership, collaboration and empathy that our community holds dear. Here are just a few of their stories: 

  • Taylor was a private equity senior associate at Fairview Capital Partners and founded Wealth Beyond Us, a financial literacy nonprofit that has educated more than 500 students. 
  • Sarahanna managed a $1.1 billion P&L in soda and energy drinks as a merchandise planner at Target. 
  • Harini joins us from The/Nudge Institute, a nonprofit that is working towards a poverty-free India within our lifetime. She plans to pursue social impact consulting, with a long-term goal of opening a kitchen that employs women from impoverished communities. 
  • Sergio helped define strategy and transformation initiatives for Mastercard in Central America and the Caribbean, and he founded an NGO in Mexico that raises awareness of organ donation. 
  • Parinieta was a senior associate scientist at ElevateBio, which develops therapies to treat rare diseases. A published author, she is also the cofounder of Shethrive, a foundation focused on women’s health.
  • Ryan, a veteran of the U.S. Space Force and U.S. Air Force, crafted a software acquisition plan for commercial satellites, providing more than 10,000 images to Ukrainian forces amid the conflict in that region. 
  • David, formerly a vice president at Warner Music, developed new recording artists in Asia and is an official voting member for the Grammys. 

You can explore the full data for the Class of 2026 on our website. On behalf of everyone here at Kellogg, let me be the first to say that we cannot wait to see where their ambitions will take them, in the classroom and beyond. 

Interested in Kellogg? Explore our many degree programs, or dive deeper into our Two-Year MBA Program to discover how it can accelerate your professional goals. We invite you to connect with our admissions team at an virtual or in-person event and review our upcoming application deadlines.